1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of gun mechanisms and in particular to an improvement in the ammunition feed mechanism of an automated cannon to allow access to the ammunition belts in the feed mechanism without loss of synchronization or need to resynchronize the feed mechanism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art has developed many designs for allowing an ammunition feed mechanism for handling belted ammunition to be accessed and changed. Very often the feed cover of the mechanism is incorporated in some manner with the operation of the feed mechanism itself. Opening the cover, therefore, unlinks the feed mechanism components from each other so that when a new belt of ammunition is placed within the feed mechanism, various ones of the components become misadjusted with respect to other ones. Therefore, when the feed cover is to be closed, the components must be realigned in order to avoid a jam.
Typical of such prior art mechanisms is LOCHHEAD, "Cartridge Feeding Mechanism for Fixed Barrel, Slide-Operated Guns", U.S. Pat. No. 3,221,603 (1965). In LOCHHEAD the ammunition cartridges 56 are placed in a transverse feedway 58 to the rear of barrel 14 and immediately above the path of travel of a bolt 18. Access to the ammunition feedway 58 is provided to cover 60, which is pivoted at its forward end and latched at its rear end by latch 62. The underside of cover 60 is transversely slotted to form a track 64 for slidingly receiving a feed slide 66. Therefore, when cover 60 is lifted, its cooperation of linking with underlying elements is disrupted and leaving open the possibility that feed slide 66 may become misaligned with track 64 defined on the bottom of cover 60.
Another prior art reference with a similar defect is shown in COLBY, "Cartridge Feeding Mechanism", U.S. Pat. No. 2,899,865(1959). Cartridges 18 on belt 22 are fed into the gun by means of a feeder 28 mounted on a receiver 14 as best seen in COLBY's FIG. 1. Feeder 24 includes a tray 26 for slidingly supporting belt 22 through an entrance port 21 across the feeder and to an injection port 23. The entire feed mechanism is hinged thorugh a pin shown in the upper right hand corner of COLBY's FIGS. 1 and 4. Pin follower 54 is moved out of alignment with a cylindrical member 50 during pivoting of the entire feed mechanism upwardly. Cylindrical tip 56 is thus withdrawn from groove 58 provided in crosshead 60. Therefore, the possibility arises that various pins and followers may be misaligned when the ammunition feed mechanism is opened.
Therefore, what is needed is an improvement in a feed mechanism for such automatic weapons wherein the feed mechanism may be opened, the ammunition belt changed,and closed without loss of linking or synchronization of the various components of the feed mechanism.